Madison Police Department Impact on 40% reduction in the jail?

June 15, 2020 10:15 am

I was curious what the Madison Police Department changed during COVID-19 and how those changes are impacting the low jail population. Here’s what I found.Well, more stonewalling as per usual. An open records request should not be required to get information for a committee chairperson.

PSRC MEETING

At 3 hours and 25 minutes into the last PSRC meeting I tried to ask the following:

BK: The population in the jail is down quite a bit and one of the things I was looking at in the longer report – there was an officer decision making tool and do you have any idea or any data on how many less people are actually being taken to jail at this point and how that is different.

MPD (Captain Mindy Winters): I don’t for any type of jail statistics, I’d have to refer you to the jail, or sheriff’s office.

BK: I was thinking arrests where you transport people to the jail, I thought you’d have that information. They have a 40% drop in population in the jail and I’m guessing a portion of it is from officers not taking people to jail as often because of the modified decision making process.

MPD: We are also working under a modified call response right now but that does not change the fact that when there are circumstances that are mandatory arrest, like people arrested on a domestic violence charge, those people are still going to the jail. I don’t have any numbers off the top of my head of how many people were taken to jail vs. not. That would be something that you would have to make a request through open records to get that information and/or talk with the jail staff.

POLICE DEPARTMENT POLICY CHANGES

This is the document I was referring to. It’s a 79 page employee resource guide for COVID-19 that was provided by Chief Vic Wahl. On page 16 I read the following:

OFFICER DECISION MAKING

Introduction

Due to the unprecedented risks inherent in front line policing during a pandemic, officers should be intentionally thinking about their response to calls in order to respond most safely and effectively.

Step One: Obtain Information

Pay attention to EIDS information in call notes on the CAD. If note is present, ask dispatch for them to re-contact the caller and evaluate. Request that callers meet you outside.

Due to the Governor’s recent order, public health is advising Dispatch of the addresses of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Dispatch cannot air this, so pay close attention to instructions to check your MDC during calls.

While on scene, you can gather additional information if you feel it is necessary. Re-evaluate your response and PPE posture as new information becomes available.

Step Two: Assess the Situation, Threat and Risks

Evaluate the information you have available to you. This includes the information on EIDS (COVID-19) and the caller’s health status. It also includes information about the nature of the call itself. Ask yourself, “do I need to respond in person?” (Is there on-going physical danger? Is a crime currently being committed? Is there physical evidence that must be collected now?) If you do respond, will you be able to handle the call outside and from a safe distance? Try to develop a response plan before you arrive, and properly equip yourself early, before the dynamics of the scene dictate your response.

Step Three: Consider your authorities, SOPs and special guidance

Many responses to calls will be dramatically different during the pandemic. This is not only in how the call is taken, but also in the disposition. You should not be placing yourselves and your colleagues at risk from the disease to effectuate low-level citations and arrests. When considering enforcement action, ask yourself, “what’s important now?” Be cognizant of the Chief’s guidance on traffic enforcement and proactive activity and remember the encouragement to use discretion with physical arrests.

Step Four: Identify Options and Determine the Best Course of Action:

Your response to calls for service during this time will be different. Be sure that you don’t blindly walk into a situation that ends up being high risk for exposure.

- - Make phone calls instead of responding in person, where appropriate
  - When you do have to respond in person, try to meet with the caller outside of any buildings
  - Maintain a distance of six feet from other officers and subjects
  - Conduct an initial assessment of the symptoms and medical history of occupants before entering a residence, if able. Don the full PPE ensemble before entering any residences.
  - Consider minimizing the number of officers who enter a death scene, or if any officers at all need to enter.
  - Place a subject mask on subjects in custody or offer one to citizens with concerns for their COVID status.

Step Five: Act, Review and Reassess

These are challenging and unprecedented times. After calls, take a moment to evaluate your actions and decision making. All levels of MPD, from patrol to command, are learning as we gain experience with this pandemic. Share lessons-learned, experiences or observations with PDCOVID19@cityofmadison.com.

I believe this is what Acting Executive Section/Operations Captain Mindy Winters was referring to:

CALLS FOR SERVICE

GENERAL CALL HANDLING

Specific modifications are in place for the following call types:

Private Property Accidents – Officers should generally not be dispatched to private property vehicle accidents unless an injury is involved or other circumstances warrant a response (OMVWI, disturbance, etc.). Involved parties should be referred to the WI DMV website for self-report.

Non-Injury Accidents – Officers should generally not be dispatched to accidents not involving injury or road blockage unless other circumstances warrant a response (OMVWI, disturbance, uncooperative driver, etc.). Involved parties should be referred to the WI DMV website for self report.

Parking Violations – Enforcement should generally be limited to offenses related to public safety or traffic flow (bus stops, handicap violations, etc.). PEOs will continue to handle when available.
Graffiti – Officers should generally not respond unless unusual circumstances exist. Refer complainants to the self-reporting system

Found Property – Officers should make phone contact and only respond to accept found property in limited circumstances (firearms, illegal drugs, significant cash, etc.). For other types of found property the complainant should be advised to re-contact MPD after the current emergency order has expired. Panhandling – Officers should generally not respond to complaints of panhandling unless other criminal activity is involved.

Retail Theft – Any non-felony retail theft with no suspect on scene should generally be handled by phone unless unusual circumstances exist (theft of firearm, violence involved, etc.).

Generally:
• Officers should continue to refrain from traffic enforcement that is not safety-related.
• Officers should refrain from proactive investigations/initiatives that are unrelated to public safety or public order. If a particular effort is essential, command approval is required.
• Please handle investigations/calls for service by phone when appropriate.
• For incidents that require in-person contact, practice social distancing to the extent possible. Consider asking complainants to meet/speak outside to provide more distance and reduced chances for exposure.
• Consider citations rather than physical arrest when appropriate.
• Follow the PPE guidance as described below.

Restricted duty personnel are available during their regular rotations to take patrol calls by telephone. They are designated with the district letter code (Adam, Baker, etc.) and a 100 number, for example, A190 or F192.

CALLS AT DESIGNATED RESPITE FACILITIES

Remember that the best way to stay safe at these facilities is to never go inside. Do your best to find alternatives to handling these calls inside. Call the complainants or ask them to come out to you.

If you do need to go inside, you should wear your half face respirator and keep an extra N95 mask on you. Wear your issued eye protection. You will likely see MFD wearing isolation gowns in this environment. You can enter these facilities and still be protected. A good alternative is to wear MPD uniform outerwear, as this is removable and simplifies later decontamination. Tactics always take precedence over medicine. If the dynamics of the call indicate it is safe to wear an isolation gown, you may do so. If you do, be sure that you are readily identifiable as a police officer, by wearing a uniform hat or traffic vest.

You should also wear gloves inside these facilities. Be mindful of what you touch with contaminated gloves. Safely remove gloves before touching uncontaminated spaces or objects, like the steering wheel or your personal phone.

These medical respite facilities are high risk for exposure. After entering one of these facilities, you should decontaminate your uniform:

- - Put on clean gloves.
  - Doff MSA 1⁄2 face respirator, remove filters and decon using the 3 bucket station. Try to limit soaking the elastic straps so you can don the mask again on the next call.
  - Enter locker room with a Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) spray bottle and proceed to the shower/tiled area.
  - Don a fresh set of disposable gloves and then don an N95 disposable mask.
  - Remove non-contaminated items (things that were not exposed at all) from inside your pockets first with the clean gloves and set these items aside.
  - Remove duty belt, footwear, outer vest, all personal items from shirt, including pens, badge, brass, handcuff keys, cell phone, and anything else that was exposed.
  - Spray the above items with the H2O2 solution until damp enough to feel moist but not saturated.
  - You should wipe down firearms, Tasers, radios and other electronics with a cloth or rag dampened with H202 spray. This reduces the risk of damaging internal parts.
  - Allow all items to air dry. Note that the air-drying is an important part of the disinfection process.
  - Remove uniform pants and uniform shirt. If the employee was wearing a full-length raincoat (that was zipped/buttoned completely during the contact) or an isolation gown, then there is no need to remove uniform items that were covered by these items. Instead, you should carefully remove the raincoat (or isolation gown), place it in a garbage bag (or similar) and clean the coat at the district station. Isolation gowns should be thrown away. Use the same process above prior to wiping down your raincoat.
  - Any other uniform items not covered by a raincoat or isolation gown should be cleaned as prescribed.
  - Leave shower area and change disposable nitrile gloves
  - Get dressed in a new, non-contaminated uniform.
  - Once equipment that was sprayed down above is dry, put back on.
  - Spray down the shower and tile rea where dirty equipment was with H2O2.
  - Remove gloves, wash hands, arms and face with soap and water. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds.

Squad Cleaning

- - Once the full uniform doffing process is complete, officers should sanitize their vehicles BEFOREsitting back down in the squad. This is the same squad cleaning process that the employee completes at the beginning and end of their shift.

Video Link: https://bit.ly/39BY08N

RESPITE FACILITY LOCATIONS:

-Howard Johnson (3841 E Washington Ave) for the High Risk Population, i.e., “60+ YOA, underlying health issues, or pregnant,” to divert from the shelters.

-Quality Inn (1754 Thierer Road) for Medical Respite (referred from a hospital, test results pending or tested positive, or showed symptoms and told to isolate)

-The Warner Park Community Center (1625 Northport Drive) for healthy single men.

All have onsite security. Security staff should be working with hotel management if they will be removing a guest from the property due to violations of the agreement. Involvement of law enforcement in that removal process should be a last resort, but MPD will be called support those efforts as a last resort. Officers may be able to gain voluntary compliance in addressing behavior, particularly in the case of those in need of medical respite, or, in getting a guest to leave.

- - Officers should not respond to manage non-criminal behavior of guests of the hotel. MPD will become involved if criminal activity is reported.
  - If a response is needed, consider ways to engage or communicate with the involved parties by phone or outside, if feasible.
  - Officers may consider charging “Unlawful Trespass – After Notification: c.o 23.07(2)” or “Criminal Trespass: 943.14” if their actions warrant.
  - To prevent unnecessary contact, MFD will respond and assess if LE is required on all medical calls to these locations.

The behavioral agreement that all guests sign is attached as addendum C at the end of this document.

CPR/CCR and PULSELESS NONBREATHERS

The virus that causes COVID-19 is primarily transferred between people via respiratory droplets. Because life saving measures agitate the airway, they are high risk procedures because they aerosolize the virus. While the most high risk procedures are advanced airway interventions performed by MFD and hospitals, both CPR and CCR put responding officers at a high risk for exposure.

Make sure you secure your half face respirator, put on eye protection, and wear gloves before performing chest compressions. Also note that during the pandemic, due to the need for us to wear respiratory protection, you should only perform CCR, even in situations that would normally call for CPR (overdoses, drownings, children, etc.). Do not attempt rescue breaths of any sort during the pandemic.

WARRANTS, BOOKING and ARRESTS

In an attempt to reduce jail bookings for public health reasons, officers have been granted additional discretion when encountering individuals with certain arrests warrants. Due to an emergency court order, if officers encounter someone with an arrest warrant, they may exercise discretion and release the individual under certain circumstances:

· The officer is able to obtain up-to-date contact information for the individual.
· The warrant is for a misdemeanor (non-domestic); child support, or the warrant is for a class H or class I felony that is solely property or drug-related.
· Cases charged under chapter 940, chapter 948 or felony OMVWI cases are excluded.

The order does not require that the individual be released if the above criteria are met; it simply allows officers to exercise discretion. Officers choosing to exercise discretion under these circumstances should complete a report and indicate that it should be routed to DCSO; the warrant will be considered served and DCSO will follow-up on locating the individual after the current emergency order is no longer in effect. Please contact a supervisor with any questions about application of these.

The text of the Presiding Judge’s order is at the end of this document in Addendum B

OWI INTOXIMETER PRECAUTIONS

- - Continue to conduct breath alcohol tests as usual per your agency’s policy.
  - The risk of virus transmission associated with conducting a breath test is like the risk associated with any face to face interaction, such as a traffic stop.
  - Thorough handwashing is the best way to prevent the spread of viruses when we must interact with others. When handwashing facilities are not accessible and hand sanitizer is used instead, please do so away from the EC/IR II instrument. Hand sanitizer vapor in the environment of the breath test instrument may cause ‘high blank’ or ‘check ambient conditions’ notifications.
  - Since the breath test mouthpiece is sterile, sealed, and single use, there is no additional risk associated with providing a sample. Mouthpieces should be replaced between samples and disposed of after use.
  - The instrument keyboard, exterior of the breath tube, and all other frequently touched surfaces should be carefully cleaned with a disinfecting wipe. Do not use spray disinfectants. If vapor from the disinfecting wipe cases a ‘high blank’ or ‘check ambient conditions’ notification, wait a few minutes before attempting to use the instrument again. The instrument will not complete a test if alcohol is detected during the blank checks.

BOOKING PROCEDURES AT THE DANE COUNTY JAIL

“The Dane County Jail is not refusing any arrests at this time, including municipal and misdemeanor charges. In an effort to promote wellness for their staff and inmate population, the Sheriff’s Office is strongly encouraging officers to use discretion and find alternate means of enforcement action if possible” – Chief Deputy Hook 3/28/2020

OPEN RECORDS REQUEST

Sent this morning:

Hello, I’m the chair of the Public Safety Review Committee. At the last Public Safety Review Committee I had the following conversation with Captain Mindy Winters which can be viewed on video at around 3:25:

MPD (Captain Mindy Winters): I don’t for any type of jail statistics, I’d have to refer you to the jail, or sheriff’s office.

As a result of that conversation and at her request, I am submitting an open records request. I find that process highly unusual, but so be it. My goal is to have the information for the next Public Safety Review Committee on July 8th.

I fully understand that the above is not a specific open records request, so to be more specific, please provide me with the following information for March, April, May and June by month for 2018, 2019 and 2020:

- - The number of people transported to jail by MPD by month (March, April, May and June) for each of the three years
  - The reason for being transported to jail (PO hold, arrest, mental health, etc)

Also please provide the number of calls that were not responded to due to the calls for service changes outlined in the Employee Resource Guide pages 17 – 21.

If you have any questions or ideas to make my open records request easier to fulfill or to get more meaningful data based on the intent above, please do not hesitate to contact me.

WOW – THOSE HOMELESS PEOPLE ARE SCARY!!!!!!

WTF. Look at that long list of extra procedures for going to a hotel where homeless people are staying. How freakin’ absurd. They don’t do all that when responding to any other hotel or apartments, so what is the difference that makes them have to have all these extra precautions. Note: they aren’t doing this at the hotels where families are staying, only single people? And they are doing it even at the shelter where people are screened and are healthy? I understand extra precautions for the medical respite hotel where people are quarantining or isolated awaiting tests, but . . . ugh. How is this not discrimination based on Madison’s protected class of homelessness?